Best Photo Organizer

Since I went to digital scrapbooking I found it necessary to investigate and invest in a photo organize program. There were just too many digi papers, elements and brushes to look thru. I wanted to find things but couldn't remember exactly which folder they were in so would have to search the entire folder which would be extremely time consuming. Not to mention the fact that all my digital pics were starting to get overwhelming and sometimes I just wanted to search for that one pic from that one event from back when...

There are numerous programs out there. Ranging from free, easy, Mac only and the list goes on. Just do a Google search for photo organizing software and you can see what I mean. Before I really knew what I was doing I asked Corey's opinion. He suggested Picasa...probably cause it's free...so I checked it out. It didn't really do much for me. But do any of you out there use it??? So then I read about Shoebox and got very excited until I found out it was for Macs only...huge gigantical bummer...cause it looks fantastic. So then I decided to check out ACDSee. Fantastic program. It's what I stuck with and I absolutely love it!!!

I've only had it a couple of months and I have not catagorized or cataloged all my photos or digital elements so I'm sure I have only just scratched the surface of all it can do...however...what I have discovered is pretty amazing! Here's a screen shot of my program opened up to one of my folders of digital elements...

The program will pull photos right off your camera or memory card. You can create new folders and drag and drop folders and photos where you like for organizational purposes. You can change photos in batches, rate and catagorize photos, set up your own files by name and organize files and photos by name how you want, search by key word, search by rating, sort by group, and the list goes on and on and on. When I want to find a purple piece of paper all I have to do is type 'purple' and if I've catagorized it then it will come up in my search. So much easier than just looking aimlessly thru files!!!! Or say I wanted to do a mini album of all of Ava's birthdays...well I could just type in Ava and birthday and if I've given the photos key words or catagorized them the voila...I'm ready to pick and choose!

Here's a link to a compare photo organize programs review. And if you are looking around for a program to organize your photos just do a little research online, ask your friends what they use and see what would work for you. I'd love to know what you all are using out there!